Adviser to PM on Finance and Economic Affairs Dr. Salman Shah Tuesday had a meeting with international donors and representatives from multilateral organizations including World Bank, ADB, DFID-UK, USAID, JBIC Japan and UNDP to review the progress on relief and rehabilitation of earthquake victims of AJK and NWFP.
Chairman Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA), Minister of State for Economic Affairs and senior officials from Finance and Economic Affairs Divisions also attended the meeting.
The meeting decided to prepare a document listing all the projects to be launched in coming months covering different fields including education, health, housing, power, infrastructure, town planning, water supply and sanitation.
On the suggestion of the Adviser, the World bank and donor agencies agreed to extend technical support to ERRA for capacity building and planning of projects covering the above sectors.
Highlighting the process on construction/rehabilitation of houses of earthquake victims, Lt. Gen. Mohammad Zubair Chairman ERRA said that the housing strategy is owner driven and first installment of Rs. 25,000 has already been given to the house owners.
The meeting was informed that till today 37,000 houses were constructed/rehabilitated by the army while 15,000 by NGOs.
He informed that the Governor Punjab had promised to provide 25,000 workers including masons for the construction work in AJK and NWFP.
Chairman ERRA further stated that the public and private funded houses would be built according to the approved design and earthquake resistance structure.
Appreciating ERRA's efforts, Dr. Salman Shah said that ERRA's role is not only coordination but also monitoring and financing the programmes and projects in the earthquake affected areas.
He asked the ERRA to prepare strategies and financial packages for sponsorship of public and private funded houses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure by individuals and Overseas Pakistanis.